We investigated the in vivo activity of crude water extracts of Ajuga remota Benth (Labiatae) against Plasmodium berghei in mice using plants harvested from two areas in Kenya where the plant is commonly used to treat malaria. The extract was tested using a 4-day test at a dose of 30 mg/kg/day (equivalent to 0.2 ml solution per mouse). Wet leaf extract was the most effective with 90.4% suppression of parasitemia. Extract from air - dried and powdered flowers were the least effective with 17.2% suppression of parasitemia.

In previous studies of transition metal alkyls the 2:1 molar aggregate of n-butyllithium and zirconium(IV) salts has been found to react both with benzylic hydrocarbons and aromatic carbonyl derivatives in diverse and useful ways. In the present study the reactions of the aggregates, 2nBuLi center dot ZrE4 (E = Cl, OEt), with benzaldehyde have involved carbometallation, hydrometallation and reductive dimerization (paths 1-3) in THF and were selectively achievable by temperature control alone. First, at -78 degrees C benzaldehyde underwent carbolithiation to give upon hydrolysis 1-phenyl-1-pentanol. However, short-term reaction times and prompt D2O quenching revealed that with Zr(OEt)(4) both benzaldehyde and 1-phenyl-1-pentanol were deuteriated, consistent with the presence of a phenyl(lithioxy)carbene intermediate. The observed dimerization of benzaldehyde to benzyl benzoate by lithium 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidide is also consistent with such a phenyl(lithioxy)carbene intermediate. Second, at 25 degrees C the 2nBuLi center dot ZrE4 aggregate reduced benzaldehyde exclusively to benzyl alcohol, which observation is consistent with the formation of the hydrozirconating agent, H2ZrE2. Third, heating the aggregate at reflux and subsequent reaction with benzaldehyde produced solely the reduced dimer, 1,2-diphenyl-1,2-ethanediol with high stereoselectivity: E = Cl, rac/meso of 93:7 and E = OEt, rac/meso of 100:0. The proposed mechanism involves the formation of ZrE2, the epizirconation of benzaldehyde and the insertion of the second benzaldehyde into the zirconaoxacyclopropane under steric control. Finally, the high selectivity in hydrozirconation and reductive dimerization shown by 2nBuLi center dot ZrE4 appears at this time to be superior to that attainable with analogous titanium or hafnium aggregates.

The claims that 3,4,7,8-tetraphenyl-1,2,5,6-tetraazocine can be prepared by the thermal condensation of two moles of benzil monohydrazone or of an equimolar mixture of benzil and benzil dihydrazone have been thoroughly reinvestigated. When such thermolyses were conducted in moist air, neither the claimed 3,4,7,8-tetraphenyl-1,2,5,6-tetraazocine nor the precedented isomeric tetraazapentalene derivative was detected. The following products were unambiguously formed from the heating of molten benzil monohydrazone (%): benzil (10), benzaldehyde (10), benzamide (22), benzyl phenyl ketone (19), benzil bis(ketazine) (11), 3,4,5,6-tetraphenylpyridazine (9), benzil benzaldehyde azine (10), and, after column chromatography, 2,4,5-triphenylimidazole (2). This last component had a melting point and the fluorescent properties in UV light attributed by the original investigator to the mistakenly presumed 3,4,7,8-tetraphenyl-1,2,5,6-tetraazocine. Thus, the original claims for the synthesis of such a novel tetraazocine ring or even for the synthesis of the precedented isomeric zwitterionic tetraazapentalene have now been repudiated. The formation of 2,4,5-triphenylimidazole as a side reaction in the thermolysis of benzil monohydrazone can readily be rationalized as arising from benzil, benzaldehyde, and a source of ammonia, namely, benzamide, in the long-known Radziszewski reaction. Corroborating evidence was provided by data from the thermolysis of benzil dihydrazone. In addition, the origin of other side products is explained in terms of other possible condensations. Finally, preliminary experiments on using irreversible dehydrating agents such as titanium(IV) isopropoxide with benzil monohydrazone indicate that 3,4,7,8-tetraphenyl-1,2,5,6-tetraazocine is formed at room temperature as a transitory intermediate, which eliminates dinitrogen to produce 3,4,5,6-tetraphenylpyridazine. ((c) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2008).

The feasibility of hydrocarboxylating carbonyl and imino derivatives by the two-step process of epimetallation and carbonation has been demonstrated with the model substrates of 9-fluorenone and 9-fluorenone anil. With lithium vanadium dihydride as the epimetallating agent, such hydrocarboxylation has led to a 75% yield of 9-hydroxy-9-fluorenecarboxylic acid and a 65% yield of 9-(N-phenylamino)-9-fluorenecarboxylic acid, respectively. Some initial success in extending the scope of this reaction to other substrates, such as benzophenone, has been achieved by using other epimetallating agents, like the presumed LiV(CH3)(2) and Ti(OPri)(2). A brief review of the processes and organic synthetic applications of epimetallation and transfer epimetallation of C-C pi-bonds is offered as background. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The interaction between 1,1,2,2-tetraphenylethane and di-n-butylzirconium diethoxide (1:2 ratio) in THF at 25 degrees C does not occur in the dark but does proceed under ambient light (> 300 nm). Supplemental illumination, especially in the presence of catalytic amounts of iron salts (e.g., Fe(acac)(3) or FeCl3), can lead quantitatively to Ph2CH-Zr(OEt)(2)-CHPh2, which with H2O (D2O) provides Ph2CH2 (Ph2CHD), and to 1,8-octanediol with some 1-butanol from cleavage of THF.

Photochemical processes involving redox reactions between metal ions and organic substrates possess the versatile potential for having harnessed solar energy for prebiotic organic synthesis. The present study in our Laboratory has shown that ultraviolet irradiation of transition metal ions such as of Ni, Co, Fe, Cu and Ti dissolved in primary or secondary alcohols causes photoreduction of the metal ions with the concomitant oxidation of the alcohol to aldehyde or ketone. An observed accompaniment of this novel `light' reaction has been the known `dark' pinacol reaction, whereby the carbonyl derivative underwent bimolecular coupling to the diol by the photogenerated reduced transition metal reagent. These tandem `light-dark' processes possess the potential for the stepwise synthesis of dimeric 1,2-diols from simpler alcohols under conditions that might have prevailed on the prebiotic earth. Experiments reported here have demonstrated that such a tandem `light-dark' conversion of methanol into ethylene glycol, via formaldehyde, does in fact occur, when nickel(II) acetylacetonate solutions in methanol undergo prolonged irradiation at 185-254 nm. Since ethylene glycol can be considered as the simplest sugar alcohol, these findings may provide novel insight into the prebiotic oligomerization of formaldehyde into higher sugar alcohols or even sugars.